12 March, 2014

“MY DADDY’s EMPTY CHAIR “

A man’s daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father.

When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped
up on two pillows.

An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had
been informed of his visit. “I guess you were expecting me,” he said. ‘No, who
are you?” said the father.

The minister told him his name and then remarked, “I saw the empty chair and I
figured you knew I was going to show up.”

“Oh yeah, the chair,” said the bedridden man. “Would you mind closing the
door?” Puzzled, the minister shut the door.

“I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter,” said the man.

“But all of my life I have never known how to pray.” “At church I used to hear
the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head.”

“I abandoned any attempt at prayer,” the old man continued, “until one day four
years ago, my best friend said to me, “Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter
of having a conversation with God.”

“Here is what I suggest,” he said. “Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair
in front of you, and in faith see God on the chair.

It’s not spooky because he promised, ‘I will be with you always’.”
“Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now.”

“So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every
day. I’m careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd
either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.”

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to
continue on the journey.

Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and then returned to the
church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had
died that afternoon.

Did he die in peace?” he asked.

Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside,
told me how much he loved me, and kissed me on the cheek.
When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead.
There was something strange about his death.

Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the
chair beside the bed.

What do you make of that?”

The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, “I wish we could all go like
that.”